1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates to systems, methods, and apparatus for producing decorative resin panels. In particular, at least some aspects of the invention relate to creating decorative resin panels employing a thin or brittle natural veneer layer.
2. The Relevant Technology
Decorative panels are increasingly popular for use in architectural design implementations, such as in walls, doors, floors, dividers, lighting diffusers, ceiling panels and the like. Decorative panels can also be formed into one or more shapes for use in sculptural works. Decorative panels made of glass or polymeric resins are particularly popular in architectural design due the structural and aesthetic properties that are possible in some circumstances. Typical polymeric resin materials used for making decorative panels include styrene based resins such as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene or “ABS”, polyvinyl chloride or “PVC”; polyacrylate materials such as poly(methyl methacrylate) or “PMMA” (also known as acrylic); polyester or copolyester based materials such as poly(ethylene terephthalate), “PET,” either modified or unmodified with 1 to 99 mole percent of a diol or combination of diols, such as ethylene glycol, neopentyl glycol or cyclohexanedimethanol, or “PETG” and “PCTG”; as well as polycarbonate resin based materials.
There are many different materials (and ways for manufacturing these materials) used to create a resin-based panel that can be used for decorative purposes. In one example, a first sheet, such as an eighth-inch sheet of glass or polymeric resin sheet is positioned on a surface, an image layer is then positioned on the first sheet, and a second eighth-inch sheet of glass or polymeric resin is positioned on top of the image layer, thereby creating about a quarter or half-inch assembly. The combined assembly is then solidified using any number of panel forming processes. For example, a manufacturer might apply a liquid adhesive between the first and second sheets in the case of a glass assembly, or might thermoform the first and second sheets about the layer using an appropriate amount of temperature and pressure. The resulting panel, which exhibits the aesthetic properties of the layer, is then prepared and positioned in the appropriate architectural environment (e.g., door, window, wall, etc.)
Despite this seeming interchangeability of material compositions (e.g., glass, or polymeric resin), the choice of material for the panel can have a significant impact on the panel's ultimate use. For example, one type of decorative panel may be made by positioning a thin, decorative material, such as wood veneer, between two glass sheets. The manufacturer then applies a translucent liquid adhesive or casting resin between the glass sheets, which then cures at ambient temperature to form a composite panel. The resulting decorative panel in this example has a look of the decorative material, also having many of the aesthetic features (e.g., texture, shine, translucency) typically associated with glass. Unfortunately this type of glass panel is not used as much as it could be, since, as previously mentioned, glass works tend to be much more expensive, tend to be heavier, more fragile or brittle, and tend to be difficult to manufacture into a curved formation. As such, decorative glass panels are not ordinarily offered in many of the various shapes that could be possible or desired.
By contrast, conventional products using polymeric, resin-based materials have other types of limitations, such that laminates of thin and/or brittle natural materials can be difficult or impossible to make, particularly with any useful efficiency. For example, polymeric resin-based panels are generally formed about a decorative layer using combinations of fairly high temperature and pressures (e.g., about 300° F., and about 100 psi, etc.) Such temperatures and pressures are generally needed to soften the resin sheets to fuse the natural decorative layer to the opposing resin-based substrate panels. Nevertheless, these conventional thermoforming temperatures and pressures can be particularly harsh and can cause thin and/or brittle natural materials to split or otherwise deform, resulting in a laminate that does not have the desired aesthetic effect.
As such, conventional mechanisms for creating a natural-appearing image layer between polymeric resin panels generally involve substituting a decorative artificial image layer in place of the decorative natural material. For example, one conventional mechanism involves creating a printed film of a natural material, such as printing a natural material's image on a relatively thin polymeric resin sheet. In such a case, the printed image might be that of simulated wood or granite.
A manufacturer might then laminate the printed film or sheet by thermoforming two or more resin-based sheets about the printed film layer. Decorative panels made using this process can thus simulate the look of a laminated natural material to some degree without encountering some of the aforementioned manufacturing difficulties associated with using true, natural materials. One will appreciate, nevertheless, that even the best of such processes (printing, thermoforming, or otherwise) will betray the artifice of the image layer. That is, it is difficult if not impossible for most printing techniques to accurately convey each expected aesthetic of a true natural material.
Conventional mechanisms are therefore inefficient, if not completely ineffective, at accurately creating decorative resin-based panels that convey the aesthetics of true, natural materials. The look of true, natural materials, however, is increasingly popular in a number of architectural design and building applications. As such, there is an increasing need to combine the benefits of resin-based materials with the look of true, natural materials in an efficient, cost-effective way.